Clogging of drain pipes is a common problem in both residential homes and commercial businesses. During normal use of drain pipes, liquid flowing through the drain pipes contains solid material or sediment which tends to adhere to the pipes inner surface. If the solid material adhering to the pipe is not periodically removed, the adhering solid material builds-up until the liquid flow rate through the pipe is substantially decreased and back-up of the drain pipe occurs.
In the past, liquid dissolvents were poured down drain pipes in order to dissolve clogging sediment build-up in drain pipes. However, in order for the liquid dissolvent to work most effectively on the sediment build-up on the pipe surfaces, the liquid dissolvent must remain in contact with the sedimennt for a sufficient amount of time to allow the liquid dissolvent to react with and dissolve the clogs. The problem with the past solution to preventing drain pipe clogging is that when the liquid dissolvent was poured into the drain pipe it quickly flowed through the pipe and over the outer surface of the sediment without allowing the dissolvent a sufficient amount of time to remain in contact with the sediment. Instead, due to the speed of the liquid dissolvent flowing by the sediment or clog, only an outer layer of the sediment was removed and substantial sediment remained within the drain pipe unaffected by the liquid dissolvent. Because the clogging often was not removed with one application of the liquid dissolvent, the dissolvent had to be repeatedly poured down the sink on several different occasions by the user of the liquid dissolvent. Having to repeatedly pour liquid dissolvent down a drain pipe was both time consuming and annoying to the user. In addition, a large portion of the liquid dissolvent was wasted when it flowed past the clog without reacting with the clog. Even when the repeated pouring of liquid dissolvent down the drain pipe does increase the flow rate through the drain pipe to an acceptable flow rate, sediment unaffected by the flow dissolvent poured into the drain pipe often remains attached to the drain pipes causing more rapid build-up of clogs within the drain pipe.